


My Heart is a Troubled Captain

by wingsyouburn



Category: Final Fantasy VI
Genre: F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Pre-Canon, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-18 05:09:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9369443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wingsyouburn/pseuds/wingsyouburn
Summary: It's a tricky concept, soulmates. One that Maria has yet to fully understand and Setzer won't explain.





	

They laid together in the afterglow, sheets tangled at the end of the bed. Setzer lit a cigarette, watching the smoke drift over Maria’s blonde hair, draped over his chest. It was always quiet, in these moments, and he found that he preferred that over the noise and the spectacle that was courting an opera singer. 

If one wanted to call it a courtship, anyway. Maria was always so concerned with her public image, wanting to sneak away to the hidden corners of the opera house or onto his airship, like they were now. If he closed his eyes, he could hear the faint whirr of the engines as they floated above Jidoor, and the din of voices from the gambling hall below. His bedroom aboard the Blackjack provided the perfect sanctuary from the crowded opera house and the prying eyes that came with it. 

He took a drag and slowly let the smoke slip from his lips. He didn’t deny Maria the right to her privacy. She came to him for an escape, for the danger, for the thrill of it. Setzer understood that he wasn’t the sort of man you showed off to Mother and Father, as it were. His place was on the fringes of society, whereas Maria needed - _craved_ \- the spotlight. They all had their roles to play; Setzer, at least, had the freedom to choose his own. 

And the sex was worth it. Soon one or the other would grow tired of it and move on. He’d enjoy it while it lasted. If nothing else, he’d learned that nothing in this world ever stayed long, so the only option was to live in the moment. Darill taught him that. 

Maria stirred, and his free hand went to her hair, smoothing down the blonde locks. She looked content, like a sleepy little kitten. “That feels nice,” she murmured, propping her chin on his chest. Of course it did; Maria loved any sort of attention bestowed upon her, now being no exception. “May I ask you something?” 

Setzer raised an eyebrow, but nodded, expecting a question as to their location in the skies, or when he could have her back to Jidoor before anyone noticed she’d gone missing. 

“Have you any ink?” 

The eyebrow inched up further, and he took another drag. “There’s parchment and ink on the desk,” he said, nodding towards it with his chin. “You’re welcome to it.” The _‘what do you need it for?’_ went unspoken. 

She kissed the center of his chest before climbing out of bed, wrapping the top blanket around her tiny form as she did so. He laid back, appreciating the view as he kicked up the remaining blankets to cover his feet. Even off stage, Maria had a grace to her that he hadn’t found elsewhere, evident in the way she glided over the wooden floors, feet not making a sound. To his surprise, though, she didn’t reach for the roll of parchment, but for the inkwell and quill, bringing them to rest on the nightstand. 

Now he couldn’t help it. “Just what are you doing with that?” 

Maria hummed to herself, a few notes he recognized from last night’s opera, as she sat down next to him again. “You’ve heard of the legend, I’m sure,” she said, taking his arm and drawing it across her lap, palm facing up. “Of soulmate marks - that what you draw on the skin of one will appear on the other.” 

Gods, surely she wasn’t serious, or he’d severely misjudged this whole relationship. “I’ve heard of it, yes,” he said, which was the truth. “Always thought it was a bit - well, farfetched.” 

“Come now. Haven’t you always wondered if it was true?” She reached over him for the quill, dipping the tip in ink. 

“Not particularly, though I suppose you mean to find out.” 

“Certainly won’t hurt,” Maria said. Setzer allowed her to rotate his arm gently into a better position, and the quill tickled a bit as she dragged it over his skin. She followed the line of one particular scar, signing her name in impeccable cursive. With that finished, she set the quill aside and then laid her arm next to his, waiting. 

It seemed to him as though Maria was holding her breath as they sat there, watching the ink dry on his skin. Setzer didn’t know what she was expecting, but the more they sat there, the less he expected her skin to change. She was still pale as snow and just as delicate, the way Setzer liked her. 

“You know,” he said, after a few minutes, “I’m sure I could’ve gotten your autograph without having to go through the trouble of bedding you first.” A smirk spread over his face, hoping Maria took it as the joke it was. 

She pouted, a look so real he had a hard time telling if she was acting or not. “You can’t fault me for trying,” she said, running her fingers over her signature on his skin, not meeting his eyes. 

“No, suppose I can’t.” He leaned up, reaching for her chin to turn her face towards his. Maria wasn’t his soulmate, nor did he want her to be. It didn’t mean they couldn’t enjoy the moment for what it was, for the moment was all any of them ever had. “I don’t think it’s something we need to be concerned with for the time being.” Setzer brushed his lips over her jaw, making his way down towards her open neck. “Not when there are other pursuits to occupy our time.” He flicked his tongue out against the hollow of her throat, relishing in the way her body shuddered against him. 

“I’m starting to think” - Maria gasped as he bit her shoulder - “you have a one track mind.” 

Setzer chuckled against her. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

\---

Maria was sound asleep when Setzer slipped from bed, some time later. As delightful as the little distraction she provided was, eventually he would need to check on things elsewhere on the Blackjack and set their course back to the opera house. She never cared much for the inner workings of his ship and thus, it was best not to interrupt the primadonna’s beauty rest.

Silently, he gathered his pants and shirt from the floor where they’d been discarded the night before, his signature coat hung carefully by the door. As he drew the white silk over his shoulders, he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror and paused. There, gracing his left hip, was a small tattoo, roses tangled in a mass of vines and thorns. Setzer ghosted his fingers over it, remembering when it appeared on his skin - for it wasn’t his tattoo. 

It had been Darill’s. 

When Maria brought up the legend about soulmates, he’d dismissed it quickly, not wanting to think about it any more than he had to. Oh yes, Setzer knew it was true, for he’d seen it in action. He recalled nights spent drinking aboard the Falcon, drawing mindless designs on each other until they fell into bed together in a heap of limbs and kisses and too-hot touches. Darill liked to write her speed records on her skin, so wherever he was in the world, he would know how fast she’d flown and that she’d beaten him, again. 

Of course it was her idea to get a permanent marking, something that would bind them together forever. “So you’ll always remember me,” Darill had said. 

“Like I could ever forget,” he’d shot back. 

And he was right, he hadn’t forgotten. Sometimes Setzer missed when words would randomly appear on his skin, for that was when he knew his soulmate was thinking about him. A special way of communicating, just between the two of them. All that was gone now, buried with the Falcon, never to be seen again. The tattoo was all Setzer had left. 

Maria could never be his soulmate, for his soulmate was dead. She was nothing more than a pleasant distraction for them both, and Setzer wouldn’t make more of it than it was. Soon Maria would tire of him, and the thrill of sneaking around behind the Impresario’s back would fade. After Darill, that seemed to be his lot in life, to live each day like it was his last, to make the best of each moment, without a care in the world. 

Having the Blackjack helped with that, too. With a sigh, Setzer turned away from the mirror and finished dressing. Maria would wake soon and it would be back to reality for them both. He could get the ship ready until then.

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from the song "Brooklyn, You're Killing Me" by Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness. <3


End file.
